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U.S. Gov Agency Blunders With Keyword Blacklist

Posted by simoniker on from the speeding-up dept.

Anonymous Submitter writes "There's an interesting CNet article which highlights a report released by the OpenNet Initiative. The report examines how "a U.S. government agency charged with fighting Iranian and Chinese Internet censorship is quietly censoring the Web itself". Among some of the sites this U.S. agency accidentally blocks are breastcancer.com, teens.drugabuse.gov, several gay rights websites, and even usembassy.state.gov. Some of the members of the group who prepared this report were responsible for a previous Slashdot discussion entitled "Academics Take On Government Net Censorship". The report raises questions about the potential inaccuracy of proprietary and other secretive filtering mechanisms: who should be responsible for ensuring their accuracy?"

11 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. Slashdotting! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is this just an excuse to /. the US embassy? Seems like this article is a terrorist plot.

  2. A new department is needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Perhaps the Department of Homeland Accuracy.

  3. Naughty Words by tyleroar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Berman said. "Basically, we said, 'Implement a porn filter.' We were looking for serious, hard-core nasty stuff to block...I couldn't come up with a list (of off-limits words) if my life depended on it."
    Rrriite...
    Because he Never Looks at porn ;)

    --
    Portland, North Dakota Puppies
  4. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  5. just plain stupid by adamruck · · Score: 5, Funny

    um... they blocked the word 'my'.... this tells me the people running this program are stupid... nothing more.. I see no evil plot here

    --
    Selling software wont make you money, selling a service will.
    1. Re:just plain stupid by kfg · · Score: 5, Funny

      And never mind thae fact that people can be both stupid and evil plotters. Now that's scary.

      KFG

  6. George **** & **** Cheney 2004!!! by grocer · · Score: 5, Funny

    wow....Bush and Dick are both on the banned word list...ooops.....

  7. Re:only employees are filtered by Uncle+Gropey · · Score: 4, Funny

    No, no you are missing the point here. An employer has no right to guide the activities of it's employees on company time, nor does an employer have the right to control traffic on it's data networks.

    Stop oppressing us!

    --
    My blog can kick your blog's ass
  8. Incompetent brainwashing? by Zareste · · Score: 5, Funny

    Christ, you know the world is doomed when your government deploys Nazi-based information control and can't even do THAT right.

    --
    I am NOT a number! I am a - oh wait, I'm number 761710. Look! 761710!
  9. That's right David by JohnGrahamCumming · · Score: 4, Funny

    One the banned list is the word "kitt". pr0n surfers will think this refers to sites like Persian Kitty, but those of us in the know realize that this is all a plot by Knight Industries to prevent the Iranians from stealing plans for the Knight Industries Two Thousand.

    John.

  10. Re:Dear TWATRAVEL.COM by Guy+Harris · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, but what about this is scunthorpe?